Materials

Bombay India Ink Chart
DocMartins.com

I'm in a crunch of a countdown, having to get a book finished & edited to the publishers. No, not mine, but a project for someone else. That's why I "forgot" to write last week. Yet, I've managed to slip in a 15 minutes here & there for my own book and art. And, I have made a couple of trips to the local art store, Artisans of Santa Fe (their branch in Taos). I had discovered that, alas and alack, I was using the wrong kind of ink for my small paintings on wood. The synchronicity is that the time on the other book project prevented me from doing too many paintings. Now I'm on the right track, ready to roll with lovely India inks in color!! I had been using only black, brown, & blue before, with a tinge of red. Now, I'll expand my colors as I do love color more than anything! Another bit of good news is that the media teaches us. When the non-permanent inks started to change if water accidentally got on them, I knew I had better do more research. It's not egg-on-our-face if we goof, it's just part of the learning curve. I still use Ralph Mayer's Handbook of Materials and Techniques. It's so thorough. Oh, I can still save all the previous paintings with spray varnish! Have fun experimenting and working with your materials!!!